Scavenge
by KittehSpring
Summary: Human/Zombie!Stuck Au Karkat Vantas is stuck in a zombie apocalypse with one of his best friends, Terezi Pyrope. What happens when they meet a group of survivors whose leader is not what Karkat envisioned? Super Katnep in later chapters! Expect other pairings as well!
1. Chapter 1

"Karkat...? Karkat! C'mon, wake up man! We have to go, like, right now..."

Karkat Vantas awoke to Terezi, one of his best friends, violently shaking him. He opened his eyes and she pulled him off the ground. Before he could ask about what happened, Terezi pulled his arm and led him out of the tiny shack they were hiding in.

"Terezi, slow down! What the fuck happened?" Karkat asked. She glanced behind them and kept running.

"Zombies, everywhere. You fell from my window when we were trying to escape my house."

"Well, where are we going then? If there are zombies everywhere, where are we going to run to?!" He almost screamed. Terezi pointed to a small shed inside the forest nearby. It was getting pretty dark and from what Karkat saw, they had nothing to light up the area. Terezi quickly opened the door and shoved Karkat inside. She grabbed a box of what looked like supplies and pushed it against the door.

"Alright, Karkat. Remember, no sleeping near windows or the door in case something grabs you, alright?"

"Yeah, yeah...Are we going to wait here until morning? Where are we going to go after this? Where the hell is everyone else?"

Terezi sighed. "We're going to that island in the middle of the lake not too far from here. Someone came by when you were unconscious and told me about it. Supposedly, there are a bunch of survivors on that island but...who knows how many are a 'bunch'. I just hope they aren't dead yet..."

Karkat noticed Terezi's expression sadden. He cleared off a small area on the ground and motioned for her to lie down with him. In no time, it seemed she had already dozed off. Karkat, however, could not rest his worrying mind. Would an island of strangers really be the best thing for them right now?

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A/N: Sorry it's so short! I don't want to put too much in the first chapter!

I'll probably go back and edit it later or something but!

As always, reviews are always welcome c:


	2. Chapter 2

The sun shined on Karkat's face. Terezi had already gotten up and was sitting in the corner. They both got up and Karkat peeked out the window to make sure they were free of the undead for now. He helped Terezi move the box and slowly they walked out.

"So where is this island you were talking about?" He asked. He watched her finger point in the direction they were facing.

"I can't believe you don't remember, Karkles! We used to go there almost every week when we were kids..."Her voice almost sounded disappointed. Karkat shrugged it off and began walking towards the so-called island. The first half hour was almost silent, with little warnings of logs or mud coming from both of them. The awkward silence wasn't broken until Terezi decided to speak up.

"What do you think the group of survivors is like? They better be nice..."

"Well, I'm sure the group is run by someone probably tough and very leader-ish. If they managed to survive on that island than I guess he's not doing such a bad job." They kept walking until they reached the clearing with the lake. It was quite literally in the middle of it and seemed unreachable.

"Holy shit! How are we going to get to that island?"Karkat said, standing on the small ledge they were on. "Should we scream for help or something?"

"Karkles, stop asking so many questions! Jesus. The guy said we just needed to pull on a rope and wait...Look! There it is!" She grabbed the rope and handed a part to Karkat. They pulled it together and a small door in the ground opened. Looking down, they saw a ladder that led into a small tunnel.

"Should we...go?" Karkat asked, even though Terezi was already climbing down. He sighed and followed her, shutting the door on top. Surprisingly, the tunnel was dimly lit with torches, just like in medieval times. Terezi struggled to get around, having bad eyesight. She grabbed for Karkat's arm and the two walked on, cramped side by side. After what seemed like forever, they found another ladder.

"You think we were underwater that whole time?" Terezi asked, climbing up.

Karkat followed her and replied with a simple, "I guess we'll find out."

The light from the other side of the door was almost blinding to the two who just emerged from a dark tunnel. A girl was waiting at the entrance. Her dark hair was probably below her waist and she held a sheep plushie close to her chest.

"Are you the newcomers, perhaps...?" She asked, tilting her head to the side like a curious puppy. Terezi nodded and helped Karkat out of the passageway. "My name's Aradia Megido! Nice to meet you both~"

"I'm Karkat and this is Terezi. Uh, she told me someone from this group told us to come here?" Karkat said. Aradia's eyes seemed to glimmer as she pulled both of them by the arms. She led them to a young man in a homemade tent. His hair was rather unkept and glasses he wore were a little dirty.

"Oh, hey there. I hope the travel here wasn't too rough? I'm Sollux Captor, by the way. You are...Terezi, right? You said your friend's name was Karkat?" He asked, going back to whatever he was working on. It was a radio of some sort.

"Sollux over here is our groups lead technician! He got the walkie-talkies working after a few hours of hard work so we thought to give him the radio." Aradia put her hand on his shoulder and he smiled a half-assed smile at her. "Oh! Come with me, I'll introduce you to the rest of the group!"

"That girl over there is Kanaya. She's very polite but I wouldn't get on her nerves if I were you. Those two over there are Feferi and Eridan. They used to be best friends but I guess something happened between them and now she won't talk to the poor fellow. Jade Harley and her dog Bec are sleeping in that corner. She told us she had a few friends coming this way soon so we're expecting them also." She brought her guests over to a large log where a blonde boy sat. "This is Dirk Strider. His little brother is one of Jade's friends coming. I guess they got separated before this whole mess started..."

The guy nodded his head at Karkat with a subtle, "Sup." and turned back to sharpening his sword.

"Excuse me, Aradia, but surely you must have a leader of some sort here? I would like to speak with him just to make sure us being here is okay..."

"Oh, it's fine! She loves almost everyone so I'm sure she'll have no problem with you guys. The more the merrier, right? Anyways, she and her friend are out scavenging. Nobody volunteered to go today so they went alone. They should be back anytime now actually!"

"'She'...?"

A noise came from the hidden door and, as if they knew they were being talked about, the two climbed up. A young looking girl with paint on her face and her tall friend dropped two bags of what looked like supplies on the ground. The group gathered around and sat in a circle, leaving space for Karkat and Terezi.

"So, Nepeta and I have returned with an exceptional amount of supplies for the week. However, we discovered a good place to stay inside the city. It can be our shelter for overnight searches so that we can bring back more supplies." He looked over at his tiny accomplice who took over the talking.

"We love you guys, and we would hate for any of you guys to get hurt...but if we want to survive this thing we need more people to come with us! If nobody comes, I'll just have to start picking people myself!" Nepeta started unpacking the bags and placing stuff on the table. "As always, this stuff is up for anyone to take. Please don't take more than what you need!"

The group started looking at the supplies and Nepeta went inside her own tent, followed by her tall companion.

"Hey Terezi...stay here and find out more about what these people do. They seem nice but you never know, right? I'm going to go talk to this 'Nepeta' person." He walked up to the tent where the Nepeta went and stood there awkwardly. "Uh, knock knock?"

There was a few seconds of silence before the tall one opened the little flap. "Do you need something?"

"Yeah. I was wondering if I could speak to the little girl in there? Unless you run this place..." Karkat scratched the back of his head.

"Come in then...what was your name again?"

"Oh sorry. I'm new, my name is Karkat. The girl I came with is Terezi." He replied, ducking and sitting down inside the tent. Nepeta sat down across from him and held out her hand.

"My name is Nepeta! It's nice to meet you~"

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A/N: I hope this is at least a little longer!

I'm sorry there's so much dialogue...I'm trying not to rush things ah ; 3;

Thanks for reading though!3


	3. Chapter 3

"I'm Karkat. Your friend is...?"

"Oh, that's Equius! Heehee~" She giggled, poking Equius. He simply looked at her and sighed. "Anyways, did Sollux tell you to come here, Karkat?"

"Well, he told my friend Terezi that you guys were here...I was...er...passed out." Karkat hung his head in embarrassment and jumped a little when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked up and saw Nepeta smiling at him.

"You made it here, friend! That's good enough for us! Equius, can you help get this kid a place for him and his friend?" She stood up and led the two out of the tent.

'Kid? I'm not a kid...I could probably be her fucking older brother!' Karkat thought to himself. He looked to the side and followed the small girl. Equius walked over to the supplies to get a tarp looking thing while Nepeta ran to go talk to the rest of the group. Karkat sat on the ground, not noticing his friend sit next to him.

"So, how'd it go, Karkles~?" Terezi asked, leaning close to him in case he had anything to say that he didn't want the others to hear.

"Well, she seems to be okay...her friend's name is-"

"Equius, yes I got that from talking to Aradia some more."

"...Right. Well, by the looks of it, he's only assisting Nepeta and every decision is made by her. I don't know if I can trust such a pipsqueak like that with my life..." As much as he didn't want to admit it, Karkat just wouldn't believe this little girl could run this group by herself. Maybe he just needed some proof of some sort. Equius walked up to them, with Nepeta by his side.

"Excuse me, newcomers, but your tent is now ready. It is over there by the man named Dirk. Since that is now out of the way, do you have any questions to be answered?"

"When exactly do you guys go and 'scavenge'? Karkat and I had just woken up but you guys must have already been out by then!" Terezi exclaimed. "I mean, we must have gotten here at like, noontime but..."

"Yeah, we usually go early in the morning! I think that way, we'd be able to get as much supplies as possible! Although, no one seems to be volunteering to come with us. We need a rest too, you know?" Nepeta shot the group a fake glare and giggled as if going alone was no big deal. Karkat looked up at what little of the sky he could see. People started to form a circle around one log in the middle of the campsite, almost as if it was story telling time. The two friends sat and listened to the various stories of each member. The island, they learned, was covered mostly by trees and bushes but the beautiful scenery and lighting made up for the almost boring setting. They also learned that it was quite literally located in the middle of this lake and the only way to get here was through the tunnel or a boat. Of course, Karkat had his doubts about surviving there but he tried to remain hopeful.

Before they knew it, the sun had gone down and it was now night time. The group was on alert twenty-four/seven, in case something really did happen. Each person had their own weapon and had it by their side at all times. Karkat was about to walk inside his little tent when a small hand tapped on his shoulder.

"Hey, newbie! Tomorrow when we scavenge, you should come. It'll be a great way to find out your skill level and how well you work under certain situations. Don't worry, we already know about Terezi's eye problem. If you're really worried, she can stay here..." Nepeta noticed Karkat's worried face and patted him on the arm. "Just...think about it, okay? You could use the practice, too."

With that, she was gone and Karkat stepped inside the tent, sitting next to Terezi. He sighed and noticed Terezi was drawing little figures in the dirt under their blanket-bed.

"I can feel you staring at me, Karkles. This guy is named Dave, as you know. Dirk just told me all about him and he seems _soooo_ interesting!" Terezi let out a cackle and finally rested her head on her pillow. She always liked making Karkat wonder whether or not she was being sarcastic. Karkat scooted next to her and fell asleep quickly despite being so nervous about the next day. Hopefully they wouldn't go too far into a crowd of zombies or else he might not make it back alive.

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A/N: OTL Thank you guys for the reviews! Wow!

First off, sorry it took so long, I was trying to think of a way to progress this forward but everything would have happened too quickly ;; and sorry it's mostly dialogue for now! I promise when they get into the cities and stuff I'll be more descriptive

Another thing! I've changed this story from originally being a katnep fic to an all around fic with katnep as the main main pairing! Once more characters are introduced, I might have some polls about what to do with them c: So keep an eye out for that!

(PS A/Ns will always be at the bottom!)

As always, reviews are highly appreciated and thanks so much for reading! Sorry it's both kind of slow and short right now!


	4. Chapter 4

When Karkat woke up, he refused to believe that it was anything later than nine am. The sun was barely up and the shadows from the trees only made it darker. Karkat sat up from his excuse of a bed, his vision blurry. He turned to the side and noticed Terezi was already out of the tent, most likely already up and asking Dirk more about Dave. The poor guy probably was wishing Karkat were there to pull her away. Once the girl got hooked on someone, she would talk non-stop about them. Nepeta's small but loud voice echoed in the silent morning. The piece of tarp that made up some kind of door opened and Equius popped in.

"Newcomer, please try your best to wake up as early as the rest of us. Everybody needs to be out there before we can start." He walked back outside and Karkat decided it was best not to get the scary looking guy aggravated.

The group was already up and eating a little of yesterday's food supply for breakfast. Everyone had very small portions but that was understandable since food was valuable in a situation like this. The girl whose name started with a 'K' called him over to where she was sitting.

"Hello, Karkat. By the look on your face, I am assuming you don't remember my name?" She laughed and handed him his plate. "I'm Kanaya."

"Riiight. Sorry about that, Kanaya. I'm not too good with names..."He trailed off awkwardly, staring at the ground. Kanaya stood up and looked into the horizon. The sun was still rising, its sunlight barely shining though the thick foliage. Admitedly, Karkat wished he could sit here and not worry about fighting, dying, or becoming one of the undead. He didn't even have a clue how it started. All he knew was that the damn virus is what took his parents away. If Terezi hadn't shown up when she did, he'd a walking zombie too.

Karkat averted his thoughts to today's activities. The two leaders had asked him to scavenge with them last night and he was in no position to refuse. Now, he was heavily regretting that decision. Nepeta stood in the center of the group and attempted to get everyone's attention.

"Attention group! It's about time we get this show on the road~ Let's all give a round of applause for today's trainee, Karkat!"

The group gave each other worrisome looks but clapped for the boy anyways.

"As you know, we usually take volunteers too since any help would be good. Would anyone like to come?" Nepeta scanned her audience for raised hands but sighed when she saw none. She got off the podium she was on and started walking towards the scavenging gear, accidentally pushing Karkat to the side with her shoulder. He noticed the disappointed look on her face and wanted to do something to help. After all, most people would be terrified to go into zombie territory and Nepeta and Equius go almost every time. He took a deep breath and looked at Terezi, who somehow knew what he wanted to do. She gave him a stern nod of approval and smiled her wicked smile once again. Karkat was almost trembling when he reached the podium. Taking a pot, Karkat banged it against the side of the podium until everyone was looking at him.

"H-hey everyone," he stuttered. "Listen, I know it's scary to think about going out there and how big of a possibility it is to get attacked but…we can't just keep letting Nepeta and Equius risk their lives every day! I mean, just think about how much supplies we could get if more people came?"

The man named Eridan spoke up. "Why don't you just shut it, newbie? There are plenty of supplies left and those two can handle themselves pretty fine. Most of us would only slow them down anyways! It's better if we don't go."

As the girl next to him, Feferi, tried to calm him down, a hand raised up from the crowd.

"I will go with them. Maybe I'll be able to find my brother and his stupid friends," Dirk said. He stepped over to the side to join Nepeta, who was putting some gear in a bag. Jade pushed her way towards him and declared that if it helped find Dave and the others, she'd go. The remaining six people stood there, waiting for them to leave.

"Tch. What a bunch of scaredy-cats," Karkat said, frustrated. He kicked a pebble to the side but froze in fear as soon as he heard a dog whimper. The dog, Bec, ran to his owner and she laughed, petting his head. Jade motioned Karkat over to pick out a weapon.

"When we raided a weapon shop a while ago, we found these. You're free to pick one of them to take, Karkat."

There were some interesting weapons in the box, even some Karkat had never seen before. He curiously held each weapon up one by one and swung at random, praying that nobody would make the mistake of walking around him.

"Ah, I just can't pick! There are too many to choose from," he whimpered. Dirk walked over, picked up a sickle, and nearly cut off Karkat's hand by throwing it at him.

"You seem like a violent person. Maybe you'll enjoy cutting off heads from close range?" He chuckled although no one else thought it was funny. "Go ahead, try it out. We have a fighting dummy over there."

At first, Karkat thought he was pointing at Eridan and no matter how much he wanted to hit the guy, he could never practice on him. Dirk noticed and thrust his pointing finger over a little to the hanging bag of…things. It was tied to a thick branch on a tree nearby and was the size of a normal person. Karkat swung at it a few times until he was completely satisfied with how he used the sickle. Once he was done he walked over to the day's scavengers and got all his gear; a backpack, flashlight, water, and one of four walkie talkies.

"Wait, if there are five of us, how come we only have three walkie talkies?"

"I plan on staying with Dirk the whole time and Nepeta usually stays alongside Equius so we gave you one in case you get in trouble or get lost," Jade told him, scratching her head. "Sorry…"

"C'mon guys! Let's get a move on!"

Nepeta was jumping up and down, trying to grab their attention. Her partner was leaning against a nearby tree, with his palm on his face. The three laughed and went to join Nepeta, who was looking very out of breath by now. Silence fell over the group until they started climbing down the tunnel ladder.

"So, Karkat, are you nevous?" The leader asked, walking in front of him. Karkat thought about it for a little while before he answered.

"To be honest, I am a little…" He twirled the sickle in his hand as they treaded through the barely lit tunnel, very nervous indeed. When they finally reached the end of the tunnel, Karkat felt like he was going to puke. He leaned against the wall with his hand, hunched over. Equius attempted to comfort him with a pat on his back but accidentally sent him face first into the ground.

"Er…sorry about that. Sometimes I forget how strong I am, newcomer." Equius helped Karkat up and noticed that the others were already waiting up at the top. They climbed up and Karkat was dreading every step they took on the ladder. After Equius was out, he peeked his head out of the tunnel hatch and let out a big gasp. Nothing could have prepared him for this.

"Oh my fucking God."


End file.
